January 21, 2014

What I’ve Been Training For
Tuesdays. Always scary. People bring their best teams to try to get the ten wins really fast. Last week was Snake Pit Tuesday with Death Adders everywhere. Hopefully it won’t be more of the same but if it is I will be prepared.

Battle 1: My First Tuesday
Fledgling Buzzard, Warbot, Mongoose Pup
vs. Bonkers, Clockwork Gnome, Lofty Libram
I’ve never viewed Bonkers as a serious threat. My opponent skipping about four turns made it even more non-threatening. I’d prefer an engaging battle to a freebie like this but I’ll take the win.

Players defeated in pet battle: 1/10
Record: 1-0

Battle 2: A Bloody Dream
Darkmoon Rabbit, Snarly, Infected Bear Cub
vs. Elementium Geode, Clockwork Gnome, Chuck
As if the Snarly and Infested Bear combo wasn’t good enough already I recently made it better by switching from Hibernate to Bash. I rarely used Hibernate but I was of the opinion that Bash is a waste on a slow pet. While of course not as good on as on a fast pet, Bash still allows for a free swap to the DMR while bleeding ticks and allows for Maul to come off CD sooner. Wth was I thinking before! This battle wasn’t too hard with the DMR being able to avoid Elementium Bolt. If I keep bringing my top teams then maybe others will, too. Perhaps I’ll bring it down a notch. You know as soon as I do I’ll face the fotm team from hell.

Players defeated in pet battle: 2/10
Record: 2-0

Battle 3: Aqua Disaster
Eternal Strider, Robo-Chick, Spirit Crab vs.
Gilnean Raven, Winter’s Little Helper, Clockwork Gnome
There’s some pets I just don’t like losing to and the Gnome is one of them. I was not able to get off a Wind-Up on the Raven as I had initially planned and I had to dance around the two bad match-ups of Helper versus Chick and Raven versus Strider. This team needs redemption.

Players defeated in pet battle: 2/10
Record: 2-1

Battle 4: Aqua Disaster
Eternal Strider, Robo-Chick, Spirit Crab
vs. Death Adder Hatchling, Fiendish Imp, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling
I’ve encountered this team quite a bit the past few days. Both the Imp and the Adder were of the slow variety (297 and 292 speeds) so this wasn’t as bad as it looks. I understand why people go with the slower breeds, they’re taking a gamble that they’ll be faster and dominate. This time the gamble didn’t pay off, both my Chick and Strider were faster than the Imp and Adder. It was still somewhat close, my Spirit Crab survived with about 300 hp left. How’s that for redemption?

Players defeated in pet battle: 3/10
Record: 3-1

Battle 5: Retaliating Six
Arctic Hare, Mongoose Pup, Sen’Jin Fetish
vs. Wild Jade Hatchling, Lil’ Bling, Lil’ XT
This one was a bummer because I played it well but rng had other ideas. I missed a kill shot that allowed an extra Lightning to get off, and a crit that killed my Hare before it was able to get off the Dodge I was counting on forced the loss. It happens but it still stings.

Players defeated in pet battle: 3/10
Record: 3-2

Battle 6: The Team Formerly Known As Something Else
Fiendish Imp, Warbot, Mongoose Pup
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Lil’ Ragnaros, Lil’ Deathwing
It started off as Ragnaros versus Warbot. I popped Extra Plating and opted for duking it out with Rag. I waited until Ragnaros was within kill range then threw the Minefield so it couldn’t be swept, unless my opponent saw that coming. They didn’t see it coming and went under with Sons. My Imp came in to finish Rag then get Immolation going. When the Bolt went up I bought in the Mongoose Pup. My opponent skipped a turn, the Mongoose Pup killed off Deathwing. My Mongoose had half health, my Imp full health. I was surprised when the Val’kyr ran away. This is gonna take awhile if I keep going two for one (win two, lose one).

Players defeated in pet battle: 4/10
Record: 4-2

Battle 7: Battlegropers
Jademist Dancer, Blighthawk, Snarly
vs. Death Adder Hatchling, Darkmoon Tonk, Bonkers
An S/S Death Adder, eww. My opponent started with the Tonk and it may have been a mistake. After it laid down the mines it swapped to the Death Adder, which took a Ghostly Bite on the swap. The Jademist Dancer was there to eat the Minefield which helped a lot. The Tonk took out the Blighthawk with Ion Cannon but couldn’t survive the recovery. The Cyclone did its thing, Bonkers ran away.

Players defeated in pet battle: 5/10
Record: 5-2

Battle 8: Stepson Of Disease
Infected Fawn, Infected Squirrel, Son Of Animus
vs. Wild Jade Hatchling, Clockwork Gnome, Arctic Hare
The Fawn did a decent job on the rabbit by using Adrenaline Rush. My opponent was faced with the dilemma of using Lightning even though it would help my team just as much as their team. That’s the downside of Lightning. They decided to go for it and it was a very close battle. The Gnome’s Turrets in Lightning took their toll but I ended up winning.

Players defeated in pet battle: 6/10
Record: 6-2

Battle 9: All Buzz Cons
Fledgling Buzzard, Fiendish Imp, Warbot
vs. Tolai Hare Pup, Darkmoon Tonk, Rabid Nut Varmint 5000
Another good match-up for me. The Imp is my number one choice for anti-mech and the Buzzard makes the rabbit look silly due to its strong attacks and speed. The meta has been pretty tame compared to last Tuesday. After nine battles last week I had probably only won four or five. I am bringing better teams this week, that surely has something to do with it.

Players defeated in pet battle: 7/10
Record: 7-2

Battle 10: Ratty Dread
Black Rat, Scourged Whelpling, Robo-Chick
vs. Blue Dragonhawk, Onyxian Whelpling, Scourged Whelpling
What’s up with so many people leaving early tonight. This battle was barely halfway over when my opponent fled. Sure the Black Rat was a superstar when it ate weak Conflagrates, got off two Survivals, got heals from the DoT and Plagued Blood all with a speed of 341. Even with the Rat’s awesomeness the battle was still undecided . I’ll take the win.

Players defeated in pet battle: 8/10
Record: 8-2

Battle 11: Frank Rizzo
Fiendish Imp, Scourged Whelpling, Son Of Animus
vs. Lil’ Bling, Chrominius, Phoenix Hatchling
What’s worse than an Imp damaging you from the back line and getting healed for 54 health? An Imp that’s also getting healed for 63 by Plagued Blood. Even worse than that? An Imp that’s also getting healed for 170 by Touch Of The Animus. I’m always surprised that the “Touch” strategy hasn’t taken off, I seem to be one of the few people who use Touch instead of Siphon Anima. Maybe it’s too easy to swap out of? Thanks to the Imp getting healed so much this was a relatively easy win.

Players defeated in pet battle: 9/10
Record: 9-2

Battle 12: Disco’s Destroyers
Spirit Crab, Mongoose Pup, Scalded Basilisk Hatchling
vs. Chi-Chi, Xu-Fu, Yu’la
I thought it would be cool to get win number ten with my namesake until I saw Chi-Chi. My team is bad against flyers in general, there’s no way it’ll ever beat a flyer that can avoid the Whirlpool and Dive and also heals. I stayed in and took my licks. I took out Xu-Fu but it was wasted time, this team will never beat Chi-Chi.

Players defeated in pet battle: 9/10
Record: 9-3

Battle 13: Battlegropers
Jademist Dancer, Blighthawk, Snarly
vs. Scourged Whelpling, Macabre Marionette, Harbinger Of Flame
It’s getting late so I need to finish this up. As often happens with the Jademist Dancer and Blighthawk combo I didn’t even need to use the third pet. Poor Snarly was left to ponder how nice of a belt his hide would make. By the way, thank you queue gods for making me look like such a liar. All week I was talking about how bad last Tuesday was with Death Adders everywhere but today I faced two in thirteen battles. I guess I won’t need to coin the term “Snake Pit Tuesday” as I had originally planned.

Objective complete.
Players defeated in pet battle: 10/10
Record: 10-3